In response to my posting of a load index for values of 71-110,
        at 9:15 PM 10/26/98, David-M wrote:

>There is also some law that says that for a passenger tire on a truck,
>you have to reduce the load rating by 10%. That definitely applies to
>the Vanagon.

        That's interesting...whose law is it, who does it apply to, and
        can you provide a cite?

        As far as load index goes, a ServiceDescription includes the load
        index and the speed rating of a tire. Thus the Michelin MXT
        205/70R14 99S is capable of carrying a maximum of 1709lbs at 112mph.
        (Service description == LI + SR == 99 + H => 99H)
        Reducing those values by 10% would yield 1538lbs at 101mph.

        Considering that *I've* never driven my vanagon faster than 90mph
        loaded to GWVR, much less ~6000lbs...I think I have sufficient
        safety margin. My Mercury Villager's EagleGA 215/70R15 97H, can be
        derated 10% and still capable of carrying about 400lbs over the GVWR
        at 117mph, should I be crazy enough to try.

        Hmmm...perusing the latest MotorTrend, I noticed that TireRack
        doesn't specify the ServiceDescription in their tire ads, choosing
        to only list tires by size/aspectratio X wheel diameter X speedrating.
        Wonder how many *different* tires from the same manufacturer fit
        that description?

      OLTECO                    Ari Ollikainen
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